1 Birr 1991, Ethiopia

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Description

Watermark:

Unknown pattern.

Avers:

The Ethiopian boy who was present on the Birr banknote from the very beginning of its introduction. Apparently, it symbolizes a young currency.

In the center, against the background - the head of the lion - the emblem of the country, which she inherited from the Ethiopian Empire.

The small coat of arms of the Ethiopian Empire was the crowned Ethiopian imperial crown of the lion of Judea, a natural color bearing a golden staff in its left paw, with a pommel in the shape of a cross, and two golden ribbons on a green grassy base.

The symbolism of the lion is borrowed from Judea, where it represented the Old Testament hero Judas Maccabee.

To the left is a map of Ethiopia with a flag raised above it.

On right side are the Abyssinian oxes or Sanga oxes. It is an Ethiopian breed of oxes, standing out with its long horns and a hump on its back.

Denominations in numerals are in lower corners. In words in top corners and centered.

Revers:

The emblem of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1987-1991) is shown on the right.

The Blue Nile Falls is a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. It is known as Tis Abay in Amharic, meaning "great smoke". It is situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 km. downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The falls are one of Ethiopia's best known tourist attractions.

The falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45 meters high, consisting of four streams that originally varied from a trickle in the dry season to over 400 meters wide in the rainy season. Regulation of Lake Tana now reduces the variation somewhat, and since 2003 a hydro-electric station has taken much of the flow out of the falls except during the rainy season. The Blue Nile Falls isolate the ecology of Lake Tana from the ecology of the rest of the Nile, and this isolation has played a role in the evolution of the endemic fauna of the lake.

A short distance downstream from the falls sits the first stone bridge constructed in Ethiopia, built at the command of Emperor Susenyos in 1626. According to Manuel de Almeida, stone for making lime had been found nearby along the tributary Alata, and a craftsman who had come from India with Afonso Mendes, the Orthodox Patriarch of Ethiopia, supervised the construction.

On the left are 2 White-throated bee-eaters.

The white-throated bee-eater (Merops albicollis) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds in semi-desert along the southern edge of the Sahara, Africa. The white-throated bee-eater is migratory, wintering in a completely different habitat in the equatorial rainforests of Africa from southern Senegal to Uganda.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green, but its face and throat are white with a black crown, eye stripe, and neckband. The underparts are pale green shading to blue on the breast. The eye is red and the beak is black.

The white-throated bee-eater can reach a length of 19–21 cm., excluding the two very elongated central tail feathers, which can exceed an additional length of 12 cm. They weigh between 20 and 28 grams. Sexes are alike, except that the mail has longer tail feathers. The call is similar to European bee-eater.

The white-throated bee-eater is a bird which breeds in dry sandy open country, such thorn scrub and near-desert. These abundant bee-eaters are gregarious, nesting colonially in sandy banks or open flat areas. They make a relatively long 1–2 m. tunnel in which the 6 to 7 spherical white eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs, but up to five helpers also assist with caring for the young.

White-throated bee-eaters also feed and roost communally. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes mainly flying ants and beetles.

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the white-throated bee-eater is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners. In words - in lower left and top right corners.